A Cottage Grove man is back in jail after violating probation just a month after he was sentenced for having sex with a 12-year-old girl.

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Dylan C. Peppard, 19, was ordered to spend a year in jail after admitting in Washington County District Court Feb. 7 that he violated his probation for a first-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction.

Peppard was sentenced Jan. 10 after pleading guilty to the felony charge. District Court Judge William Ekstrum issued a stay of imposition on a prison sentence but ordered Peppard to spend 10 years on supervised probation and meet numerous probation conditions.

According to the criminal complaint filed in the criminal sexual conduct case:

The victim went to Peppard’s Greenway Avenue house with two of her friends on Feb. 22, 2013. They hung out in the basement with Peppard and his friend. The victim told police later that they all smoked marijuana, watched movies and played video games. She told her friend she wanted to have sex with one of the males.

The complaint says the girl and Peppard, who was 18 at the time, had sex while their friends were in another room. The girl’s friends corroborated the story in police interviews.

The girl later told her father about the incident; he reported it to police.

Peppard admitted to police that he smoked marijuana with the group and then had sex with the girl. He told investigators he thought she was 16 or 17 but didn’t ask her and was not concerned about her age.

Peppard’s probation conditions include having no contact with the victim or with people under 18 years old; attending a sex offender program; complying with mental health recommendations; and meeting other requirements.

Scott Wente has been editor at the South Washington County Bulletin since 2011. He worked as a reporter at other Forum Communications newspapers from 2003 to 2011. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.